# Why don't American news shows have sports ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2006, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466 "2006-06-05T09:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/1 "2006-06-05T09:35:17Z")
Or do they? I live in Australia. I only occasionally see Good Morning America and Today, Newshour with Jim Lehrer. They do not seem to include sport as part of the broadcast. Is sport covered in only local newscasts? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/2 "2006-06-05T09:45:40Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > Or do they? > I live in Australia. I only occasionally see Good Morning America and Today, Newshour with Jim Lehrer. They do not seem to include sport as part of the broadcast. > Is sport covered in only local newscasts? Professional sports in America are usually very regionalized. Thus, sports are usually covered in local newscasts, where the anchors can devote more time to the teams their audience is likely to be fans of. These are usually covered not so much during the morning shows as the evening news (after the events have happened). On occasion, when something big has happened (e.g. national championships, major injury or death of a star player, etc.), it will be mentioned on a national newscast. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/3 "2006-06-05T09:49:09Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > Or do they? > I live in Australia. I only occasionally see Good Morning America and Today, Newshour with Jim Lehrer. They do not seem to include sport as part of the broadcast. > Is sport covered in only local newscasts? GMA and Today are both morning newsish broadcasts (unfortunately focusing all too much on soft news and entertainment) for a US national audience. Newshour is a hard news show produced for public broadcasting. As such they only focus on sports when it is related to a larger national news story or event (e.g. the superbowl). In the US, GMA and Today will have a break of about five minutes every half hour for a broadcast by the local station, when the local news crew will report on local news, weather, traffic and sometimes sports scores. Otherwise, sports is generally only covered on the local news. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/4 "2006-06-05T11:28:11Z")
I have 9 cable channels that are exclusively sports, I don’t need to watch a news show to get my sports fix. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/5 "2006-06-05T11:32:12Z")
Same thing with weather, too. Some cable systems in the US carry a channel called SCOLA, which broadcasts news programs from around the world. All of them include a weather forecast. Weather forecasts are included – brefly – in American morning shows like Today and Good Morning America, but **never** in the nightly network newscasts, unless there’s a hurricane or blizzard in some part of the country. ocal newscasts, on the other hand, usually go into great detail about the weather. In cold weather cities, sometimes the weather segment of the news will be longer than the sports segment. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/6 "2006-06-05T11:51:47Z")
In Australia about 25% of 30 minute news programmes and morning news programmes are sport. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/7 "2006-06-05T12:34:07Z")
Oh, BTW–not _one minute_ of World Cup coverage will be shown here in the US. No intrest. We _don’t do_ what you furriners call football (we call it soccer, & then we don’t mention it). I hope you weren’t counting on…oh my. You _were_. Better luck seeing it _next year_. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/8 "2006-06-05T13:57:16Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > In Australia about 25% of 30 minute news programmes and morning news programmes are sport. The difference seems to be that here in the United States the results of individuals matches are almost never of national interest. They are of interest only to the fans of the teams involved. Note that U.S. sports are centered on individual professional clubs or university teams. We aren’t interested in teams made up of regional or national stars. Even though the United States does send national teams to international sports tournaments, we don’t really have a cultural equivalent of “He bowled for England.” Our sports heroes become heroes as a result of their individual accomplishments with their individual private clubs. Thus, the national news will cover sports only if there is some kind of national impact, such as a final championship, or a more featury or newsy angle. The recent championships won by the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox were mentioned in national news programs because those particular clubs’ (as well as the Chicago Cubs) long history of failure has become part of the cultural fabric that extends beyond pure sports interest. Oh, and as **racer72** , there are several all-sports channels (principally ESPN) that cover nothing but sports for those who are serious enough to be interested in results from all matches. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/9 "2006-06-05T14:20:17Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Oh, BTW–not _one minute_ of World Cup coverage will be shown here in the US. > No intrest. > We _don’t do_ what you furriners call football (we call it soccer, & then we don’t mention it). > > I hope you weren’t counting on…oh my. > You _were_. > Better luck seeing it _next year_. For what’s it worth, there’s the radio coverage on XM. And if you live in a place that gets stations like Telemundo or Univision, you can always watch it live in Spanish. It’s more fun that way anyway. In 2002 I used the TV as an alarm clock and what generally woke me up was a guy going GOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL! ---
**Author:** ![dinahmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dinahmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinahmoe)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/10 "2006-06-05T14:25:35Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Oh, BTW–not _one minute_ of World Cup coverage will be shown here in the US. Between ESPN and ABC, all 64 matches will be shown live on US television.[From here](http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=soccer&id=2464038) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/11 "2006-06-05T20:24:39Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Oh, BTW–not _one minute_ of World Cup coverage will be shown here in the US. > No intrest. > We _don’t do_ what you furriners call football (we call it soccer, & then we don’t mention it). > > I hope you weren’t counting on…oh my. > You _were_. > Better luck seeing it _next year_. What? US channels planning to send reruns then? Or… maybe you meant better luck seeing it in four years. 😃 Here in Norway TV-news has lots of sports too. And then when “The News at seven”, which includes 25-30% sports, is over there’s “Sports news”. Annoying is what it is. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/12 "2006-06-05T21:00:53Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > I have 9 cable channels that are exclusively sports, I don’t need to watch a news show to get my sports fix. 9? All I get are ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNClassic, FOXSportsWest, and FOXSportsWest2. I don’t count Pay-Per-View. How do you rate? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/13 "2006-06-05T21:05:50Z")
Also, I’d hazard a guess that with the continually fragmenting American audience, the viewers that are interested in news are not interested in sports and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/14 "2006-06-05T21:55:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 9? All I get are ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNClassic, FOXSportsWest, and FOXSportsWest2. I don’t count Pay-Per-View. How do you rate? ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNClassic, ESPN News, FOXSports NY, MSG, YES (Yankees), SNY (Mets), The Golf Channel, OLN (Outdoor Life Network), Speed Channel, FOX Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Español. 13 channels before PPV. And I still can’t get Islander games! ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/15 "2006-06-05T22:00:44Z")
Back to the OP. Local news will carry news about the local sports teams. National news will only carry information sports information of national significance (Superbowl, World Series, Kentucky Derby, etc.) I’m betting you will see very little, if any, World Cup news. ‘Hard’ news programs, such as The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, will rarely have any sports story. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/16 "2006-06-05T22:03:52Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The difference seems to be that here in the United States the results of individuals matches are almost never of national interest. They are of interest only to the fans of the teams involved. Note that U.S. sports are centered on individual professional clubs or university teams. We aren’t interested in teams made up of regional or national stars… I don’t follow. The results at the top of the Premiership, or in the late stages of the FA Cup, or the Champions League, or whatever, only directly affect the fans of those clubs. But it’s nonetheless a matter of national interest, worthy of taking up time in a national news broadcast, because enough people are interested. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/17 "2006-06-05T22:35:31Z")
The United Kingdom is the size of a large state. Regional has a different definition. The UK is about the size of Oregon, on the US Left Coast. It’s over 8,000 kilometers to NYC, and there is a three hour time difference. So unless the Oregon team is playing the NY team, there’s nothing remotely connecting the two. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/18 "2006-06-05T22:44:58Z")
The morning shows(Today/Good Morning America) cater largely to a female demographic. The news hour with Jim Lehrer is produced by PBS and focuses on extended coverage of a few major news items. Sports are rarely included unless there is a “bigger picture” news item that simply the day to day results of sporting events. You might see a piece on steriod use, for example, or why America doesn’t care about the World Cup, but you won’t see day to day scores. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/19 "2006-06-05T22:48:39Z")
Another reason that morning news programs don’t cover sports is a matter of the target audience. These shows cater primarily to stay-at-home moms whose interest in sports is (generally) far less than their interest in the latest diet book or celebrity gossip. Anyone who is at home during the morning that is interested in sports is watching ESPN. Also (IMO), calling GMA and Today news shows is like calling People magazine serious journalism. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466/20 "2006-06-05T22:52:25Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > The United Kingdom is the size of a large state. …and has a population twice that of California, and a fifth of the whole US. > [@](#): > > So unless the Oregon team is playing the NY team, there’s nothing remotely connecting the two. And if Liverpool play Man Utd, it’s ostensibly a north-west local feud. But it’s still news, and people still want to know about it. And when Liverpool or any other team play in Europe, which involves some equivalence to the distances you so patronisingly point out, it’s also news. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-american-news-shows-have-sports/359466.md?page=2)